It's a Revolution
by ClockworkDreams
Summary: I was the Forgotten that day. I'd always stood in the shadows. I knew each of my detention mates. Their personalities, who they hung out with, almost everything except their names. But they didn't know me. Nobody ever knew me. Who knew that so much could change in only nine hours?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Anger Management**

I stand just across from the drop-off zone, watching the four cars, watching the students that step out of the passenger seats. I've never met any of them, I don't know their names, but I know all too well who they are. I've spent my entire high school career so far watching from the shadows, tracking everyone, learning everyone. Watching from the shadows, where I can't be seen. But now I'm forced out of the shadows, and right into the spotlight.

Saturday detention.

With the Princess. The Geek. The Basket Case. The Athlete. And walking past me, not even glancing at me, probably not even seeing me, is the Criminal.

I wait until they're all inside, then wait a few more moments. Finally I roll up my empty bag of sour gummy worms, shove the garbage into the side pocket of my black leather bag, and push myself away from the tree, making my way towards the school.

At exactly seven o'clock, when I'm supposed to be sitting in the library for my detention, I stop at my locker, take out my silver sharpie, and draw a pentacle in the top right corner of the metal door that I spray painted black a few weeks ago. Then I turn and continue down the hallways, my thick rubber soles of my black combat boots thundering against the tiles.

"Glad you could join us, Grimm," Principal Vernon sneers. "Your tardiness has earned you another detention, next Saturday?"

"Only one?" I cocked my head, shooting him a challenging look as I walked backwards in between the two rows of desks.

"Want another one?" Principal Vernon mirrors my challenging look.

"No, but you do," I shot at him.

"Fine, you have another one. Are you done?"

I shrugged, "For the moment. Don't worry, I'll get my second wind soon." I turned and sat down at the back table on the left row, behind the Criminal.

"Um, excuse me, sir?" The Princess raises her hand. "I think there's been a mistake. I know it's detention, but…um…I don't think I belong in here…"

"Get over yourself, Princess, you're cornered here just like the rest of us," I snapped across.

Principal Vernon ignores us both and says, "It is now seven-oh-six. You have exactly eight hours and fifty-four minutes to think about why you're here. To ponder the error of your ways…"

The Criminal spits into the air and catches the spit in his mouth again. Princess looks like she's going to gag. I turn to reach into my bag and pull out an unopened bag of sour gummy worms.

"You may not talk," Vernon continues. "You will not move from these seats. You," Vernon pulls the chair out from under the Criminal's feet, "will not sleep. Just like _you_," Vernon snatches my bag of gummy worms out of my hand before I can do any more than open it. I quickly reach out and snatch and gummy worm, popping it into my mouth before he can stop me, "will not eat. Alright people, We're going to try something a little different today." He picks up a packet of paper and a handful of pens from beside me on the desk. "We are going to write an essay," he continues as he passes them out, one piece of paper and one pencil to everyone, "of no less than a thousand words, describing to me who you think you are."

"Is this a test?" Criminal asks.

"And when I say essay," Vernon continues without bothering to even look at the Criminal, "I mean essay. I do not mean a single word repeated a thousand times. Is that clear, Miss Grimm?" he looks pointed at me.

I turn the blank piece of paper over in my hands a few times, "You know, _sir_, I have to wonder. What kind of life do you have that you can afford to sit here in school with a punch of kids on all Saturday? Clearly you're not married, I can't imagine what kind of woman would sink that low. No…you're divorced, because there was a time when you had a heart. You even have a kid, maybe two. But you're not allowed to see them because of your violent tendencies." I finally look up at him, my eyes hard as ice against his blazing anger. "Are you?"

I got the reaction I knew I would. Vernon backhanded me across the face. The force swung my head to the side, but I refused to fall out of my chair.

"Maybe you'll learn a little something about yourself while you're here," Vernon walks away from me, continuing his speak as if nothing had happened. But I've done my job. As I raise my eyes, wiping blood off the corner of my mouth, I see very clearly that I've shaken him. "Maybe you'll even decide whether or not you care to return."

The Brain raises his hand slowly, hesitantly, then stands up, "You know, I can answer that right now sir. That'd be a no. No for me. 'Cause…"

"Sit down, Johnson," Vernon snaps.

"Thank you, sir," he quickly takes his seat. _Coward,_ I think.

Vernon points behind him, out the library door, across the hall, "My office is right across the hall. Any monkey business is ill-advised. Any questions?"

This time I said nothing, despite wanting to. I'd done my damage for this session, I had to be patient and wait for next time, or I'd run out way before this day is over, then I'd be screwed.

The Criminal does speak up though. "Does Barry Manilow know you raid his wardrobe?"

"I'll give you the answer to that question, Mr. Bender, next Saturday. Don't mess with the bull young man, you'll get the horns."

"That man is a brownie hound," the Criminal says once Vernon's gone.

"That _can't_ be legal," Princess says, looking at me. I simply flip her off, turning to take one of my books out of my bag. After a moment, I realize someone's watching me, and I look up to see it's the Criminal.

"Got a problem?" I snap at him. He simply smirked, so I turned back to my reading. Quickly getting bored of sitting in the chair, I climbed up onto the table and crossed my legs. Basket Case starts biting her nail, drawing the attention of everyone but me.

"You keep eating your hand and you're not gonna be hungry for lunch," Criminal says. Out of the corner of my eye I see her spit a piece of her nail at him. "I've seen you before," he muses, still looking at Basket Case. Then his gaze turns to me, "Both of you."

"I'm sure you have," I say dully. I wasn't sure about the Basket Case, but I had no doubt that the Criminal has made just as many trips to the principal's office as I have, and our paths have probably crossed there more times than I can count. Definitely more times than I'd bothered to realize.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Coward Clubs**

I successfully manage block out the others for the next several minutes, concentrating on studying the words in my book. Until the Criminal says something that catches my interest. "What do you say we close that door. We can't have nay kin of party with Vernon checking us out every few seconds."

"The door's supposed to stay open," the Brain reminds us.

"And?" I find myself saying as I close my book. The Criminal looks at me in surprise, with a hint of insult. I'm stealing his thunder. But I'm feeling rebellious today. And while I'd rather crawl back into the shadows where I belong, that's not going be possible with only six of us around. And since I'm planning on raising hell anyway, what's the point in staying silent this entire time? I'll do anything right now to piss of Vernon. I slide off of my table, kicking off my loud combat boots, and hurry over to the door, staying out of direct sight of Vernon.

"What are you doing?" the Princess asks.

"Getting him back," I say simply, crouching down beside the checkout desk.

"Wait, he's looking," the Criminal warns me.

"Don't help her," the Athlete says. "She's going to get in trouble."

"So?"

"So why don't you just shut up? There's four other people in here that _don't_ want to be stuck in detention for the rest of our lives.

"Oh, you can count! See, I knew you had to be smart to be a wrestler.

"Who the hell are you to judge anybody anyway?"

"Are you really going to have this argument with Vernon down the hall?" I hiss at them, knowing that the Athlete was probably the only one of the two that could hear me.

"Really," the Princess sighs.

"You know, Bender," the Athlete continues, "you don't even count. I mean, if you disappeared forever it wouldn't make any difference. You may as well not even exist."

I look at the Athlete sharply, about to say something, to tell him to back off, but I'm not used to dealing directly with other people, and something in me keeps me quiet.

The Criminal, Bender, speaks up after a moment, "Well, I'll just run right out and join the wrestling team.

The Princess and the Athlete look at each other and laugh.

"Yeah, not until I join the cheerleading squad," I work up the courage to say, earning a surprised look from the Criminal.

"Maybe you could join the prep club too," the Criminal adds.

I smirk, "Yeah, and you can join the student council."

"They wouldn't take you," the Athlete shakes his head.

"I'm hurt," Bender says a little dramatically before turning to me, "Are you hurt?"

"I'm completely offended."

"You know why you guys knock everything," the Princess starts.

"Oh, this should be good," Bender says to me.

"It's because you're afraid."

"Oh yes, I'm absolutely terrified," I say sarcastically, briefly wondering when the hell I got so bold.

"Oh God, you richies are so smart, that's exactly why I'm not heavy in activities," Bender says.

"You're a big coward!" the Princess shoots.

"I'm in the math club…" the Brain says randomly, probably feeling left out. I smirk, glancing over my shoulder into Vernon's office. He hasn't seemed to notice yet that Bender and I are both out of our seats, and my mission to close the door is temporarily forgotten.

"You're afraid that they won't take you. You don't belong so you just have to dump all over it."

"No, it has nothing to do with you popular people being complete assholes."

"What do you know?" The Athlete turns on me. "I'm not sure you even go to our school."

"Oh, sadly, I do," I sigh.

"Then how come nobody's ever seen you before?" the Princess asks. I smirk without responding, thinking that's the whole point. You shouldn't see me. Nobody should, except for the man sitting in the office across the hall.

When I don't answer, the Princess just shakes her head, "You don't even know any of us," she says to me and Bender.

But I know. I know a lot more than they think. A lot more than they probably want anyone to know.

"Well I don't know any lepers either, but I'm not gonna run out and join one of their fucking clubs," Bender says.

"Hey, watch your mouth," the Athlete says.

"I'm in the physics club too," the Brain adds to his former random comment.

"What are you babbling about?" Bender asks him.

"Well, what I said was I'm in the math club, the Latin club, and the physics club…physics club."

Bender nods and turns to the Princess, "Hey, Cherry, do you belong to the physics club."

"That an academic club," the Princess rolls her eyes, as if even the idea of being in an academic club is beneath her.

"So?" Bender asks.

"So academic clubs aren't the same as other kinds of clubs.

"Oh, but to dorks like him they are," Bender says, pointing to the Brain. Then he turns to the Brain, "What do you guys do in your club?"

"In physics, um, we, ah, we talking about physics. About properties of physics."

"So it's sorta social. Demented and sad, but social, right?"

Deciding that this conversation is getting us absolutely nowhere, I glance around the checkout desk and into the hallway. I'm not going to wait all day for Vernon to do something. So I'm going to give him a little push.

I smirk as a crash is heard down the hall, drawing the attention of Vernon and the others.

"What was that?" the Princess asks.

"I'm sure you'll find out in a few minutes," I say as I push myself to my feet, hurrying to the door, reaching up to try to do something to close it. Release the lever or something, I don't know. Not that it seems to matter whether or not I can figure out how to do it, I'm too short to reach.

"Shit," I swear under my breath just as Bender reaches over my head and starts unscrewing a screw.

"Go, sit," he pushes me out of the way as he drops the screw, quickly reaching down to pick it up as the door falls loudly closed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Open Doors**

I fly to my seat, pushing my book down into my bag and shoving my feet back into my boots as Bender hurries back to his own seat, the Jock protesting, "That's very funny, guys. Come on, now, fix it."

"You really should fix that," the Geek says.

"Am I a genius?" Bender retorts.

"No, you're an asshole," the Athlete says.

"What a funny guy," Bender says sarcastically.

"Fix the door, Bender!"

"Everyone just shut up!" I snap.

"Look, I've been here before, I know what I'm doing!" Bender says.

"No, fix the door! Get up there and fix it," the Athlete says.

"Shut up!" Bender and I both yell at him at the same time.

"God dammit!" Vernon's shout enters the room just before he does. "Why is the door closed?"

For a few seconds, no one says anything. We all just stare at Vernon.

"Why is the door closed?" he demands again.

"How would we know?" I speak up, not lacking humor in my eyes, even though I keep my voice perfectly innocent. Even I realize that I'm probably having a little too much fun with this. But watching Vernon crumble is what I've been waiting for all my life.

"Yeah, sir, we're not supposed to move, right?" Bender adds.

Vernon turns to the Princess, "Why?"

"We were just sitting here, like we're supposed to…" the Princess, surprisingly, covers for us.

Vernon turns his angry gaze first on Bender, then on me. Back and forth as he asks, "Who closed that door?"

"You know, sir, I saw something in the hallway earlier, sir," I said. "It looked like…I don't know, like a weird looking fox."

"A fox?" he looks at me, not buying it for a second. But of course he won't buy it, that's not the point. "And what did this fox look like?"

I nod as if I'm telling the truth, "Well, it was all black with white on it's chest, and it's eyes were purple. It had butterflies and crosses and roses on it, and a spider web around its ear."

By the time I finish, everyone's looking at me. And though it makes me uncomfortable and I think I'm on the verge of a panic attack, I keep my gaze steady on Vernon's, as if I actually had any real courage. I see Bender smirking, amused. The Brain's looking at me, confused, as if he's trying to figure out how I saw this fox and he didn't. The Princess and the Athlete are looking at me in surprise.

I'm angering Vernon too much. He doesn't want to lose his cool. So he turns to the Basket Case in the back, "Who?"

She squeaks and slams her face onto the table, the hood of her jacket falling over her head to hide her.

"She doesn't talk, sir," Bender says.

"Give me the screw," Vernon turns back to me.

"I don't have it," I smile, unable to help myself, simply because I'm not lying.

"You want me to yank you outta that seat and shake it out of you?"

I stand up, staring him straight in the eyes as I challenge, "Try it."

"Sir, screws fall out all the time, the world's an imperfect place," Bender says quickly.

"Give it to me," Vernon practically growls, ignoring Bender.

"Excuse me, sir, why would anybody want to steal a screw?" the Princess asks.

"Watch it, young lady," Vernon turns to her. He goes over to the door and tries to open it by propping up a folding chair in front of it.

"It's a heavy door, it's not going to work," I say as I sit back down. And I'm right, of course. The door slams shut despite the door, and Vernon curses again.

"Andrew Clark, get up here. Come on, front and center, let's go."

Clark, the Athlete, gets up and hurries over.

"How come Andrew gets to get up? If he gets up, we'll all get up."

"It'll be anarchy!" I add, smirking.

"Oh, this is just ridiculous," Bender says as Vernon and Clark move the magazine rack until it's blocking the entire doorway. Which might have actually been a pretty brilliant plan, if Vernon wasn't stuck inside and Clark outside.

"That's very clever, sir, but what if there's a fire?" Bender asks. "I think violating fire codes and endangering the lives of children would be unwise at this juncture in your career, sir."

"Do you even understand half of what you just said?" I ask Bender, mainly because I didn't. He simply shoots me a smirk.

But it works. Vernon pauses, then says, "Alright, what are you doing with this? Get this outta here for God's sake. What's the matter with you? Come on!"

"You know the school comes equipped with fire exits at either end of the library," the Brain says, pointing to the exists.

"Show Dick some respect," Bender shoots at him.

Clark and Vernon come back to the main part of the library, and Clark hurries back to his seat. "I expected a little more from a varsity letterman!" Vernon says the Clark before turning to me, "You're not fooling anybody, Grimm. The next screw that falls out is gonna be you."

"I think we're already established that I already have a couple screws loose," I say simply.

Vernon says nothing, continuing to glare at me as he turns and heads for the door. I take a deep breath, bracing myself, before I say, "Go screw a briar bush."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Counting Stars**

Vernon stops in his tracks and turns again to look at me. "What was that?" his voice is challenging. He doesn't really expect me to have the courage to say it again. Why should he? I never have in the past. But this time, I do.

I raise my voice so that it's impossible for him to hear me wrong, "I said, go screw a briar bush. Give the usual whore you screw a night off."

"You just bought yourself another Saturday, missy!"

"Oh no, whatever shall I do?" I say with more sarcasm in those words than I've probably used my entire life.

"There's another one, right there!"

"Only one more?" I cock my head, looking up at him challengingly.

"You want another one, you got another one!"

"Come on, Vernon," I lean forward against my desk, looking up at him, "I know you can do better than that. Or did I give you too much credit?"

"Grimm, you don't know what you're getting yourself into."

"Was that code for another detention?"

"Yes!"

"Good," I smirk.

"Now do you want another one?"

I shrug, "Not really, but I'm sure you'd love to have me another Saturday."

"You got yourself another one, how many is that?"

"I'm failing math."

"That's another one!"

"That's seven, sir," the Brain says, making me roll my eyes.

"That's another detention for you," Vernon points to me, then turns to the Brain, "You stay out of this."

"How did I get a detention for his stupidity?" I wonder aloud.

"That's another one for you."

"You might want to walk away now before that anger of yours gets out of control again," I smirk. His hand lifts, I see it coming. So I move. I sit back in my chair, pulling back as he tries to backhand me. His eyes blaze with anger as I look up at him.

"Want to try again?" I cock my head, my eyes boring into him. Influencing him. Bringing out the anger that I know is in there. He's a principal. He knows better than to be caught. And now, surrounded by five ordinary students, I have him. He grabs the purple tie I'm wearing and hauls me to my feet.

"Bad idea, sir," Bender says quickly, just the barest hint of nervousness in his voice. I cast a warning glare at Bender, causing me to fail to notice the fist until it crashes into my face. Vernon releases me and I fall backwards, my now bare foot hitting the chair as I hit the ground.

Bender's out of his seat before I can even realize what's happening, flying at the principal.

"Oh my God!" the Princess gasps, and everyone's out of their seats. But Bender's the only one with either the stupidity or the courage to punch Vernon in the face. It's enough to snap Vernon back to his senses. At least enough for him to realize that he's on the job. He storms out of the library, letting the heavy door slam shut behind him.

"You okay?" Bender asks me. Head down, I don't answer, laughing quietly.

"Hey, are you okay?" the Princess asks now. I shake my head, my laughing getting loud enough for them all to hear.

"This, ladies and gentlemen, is just the beginning."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: **

Once the others finally realize not only that I'm not going to explain what I mean, but also that I really don't care about the possibility of at least one black eye, they go back to their own business. At least ten minutes after I've already gone back to my book. I don't realize I'm tracing the symbols in my book with my finger on the table until Bender asks, "What are you doing?"

I glance at him, glance down at my finger touching the table, then pull my hand back to my book, leaving his question unanswered as I continue studying.

I don't know how much time passes, enough time for Vernon to cool off, before the door opens again and he yells, "Wake up!" I don't raise my head, but out of the corner of my eye I finally see that everyone else appears to be asleep. "Who has to use the lavatory?"

Six hands shot up while six heads stay lowered.

I close my book, uncrossing my legs and dangling them over the edge to slide them into my boots as the others sit up and stretch and yawn.

"Come on, let's go, let's go," Vernon waves us impatiently through the door as he holds it open. We walk in silence down the hall as I contemplate my next move.

"You got five minutes," Vernon informs us when we get to the bathrooms, and the boys and girls split up.

Once I've done my business in the bathroom, I lace up my boots and check myself in the mirror, realizing for the first time that I forgot to change out my earrings and the stud in my nose. I wore diamonds yesterday for the sake of my mom's charity function, and I guess never realized that I never took them out. So I quickly switch out the diamond's on my ears for bats and a chain on my right ear, and I put my amethyst stud back into my left nostril.

"So what's the deal with you and Vernon?" the Princess asks as I'm making the switches.

"Have you not met the man?" I say, glancing at her through the mirror. "He's an ass."

"Well, yeah, but it seems like there's more to it than that. Like it's personal. I mean, John screws up all the time but Principal Vernon's never hit him."

"John?" I narrow my eyes at her in confusion.

"Bender," she clarifies, and I nod in understanding.

Then I shrug, "What can I say? I'm special."

"You're really not going to tell me?" she asks as I brush my fingers over my eyebrows, straightening them.

"No, I'm really not, Princess," I turn to look at her.

"My name's Claire. Can I ask you one more question?" she asks as I start to make for the door.

"You just did," I point out. Then I stop and sigh, "What?"

"How come none of us besides John have ever seen you before?"

"I'm only seen when I want to be seen."

"So you want John to see you?" she raises an eyebrow at me. "Do you like him?"

"Cri—Bender's only seen me when I'm sitting outside the Principal's office. When I'm intentionally isolated."

"Let's _go_, ladies," Vernon yells through the door.

"Now are we done with the interrogation?" I ask the Princess, motioning towards the door.

"I guess," she says, lifting one shoulder in a shrug.

I turn away from her and push through the door, unsurprised to find the boys already out there, the girls only steps behind me. I flip off Vernon, he shoots me a warning glare, and we start down the hallway.

About halfway back, I finally acknowledge Bender watching me, and I cast him a sideways glances. He winks at me. A gesture of coconspirators, partners in crime and such. Even if we've never met before today, one thing's plainly laid out. We have a common enemy in Vernon, and we're both just rebellious enough to do something about it.

So I smirk at him in response, and return my gaze to Vernon's back, my eyes narrowing just slightly as I think of all the possibilities.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Janitorial Secrets**

"Hey," Bender taps on the book in my lap in an attempt to get my attention. I look up at him. "What about you?"

I just look at him, having no idea what he's talking about. We've been back in the library for some time now and I've managed to block out everyone and everything, focusing instead on my studies.

"You don't even know what I'm asking, do you?" he asks me, and I just shake my head. Sighing, he repeats his question, "Do you get along with your parents?"

I flip him off and go back to my studying.

"Oh, I take that as a no," Bender turns away, amused, and focuses his attention on someone else. "Sporto, what about you?"

"Well if I say yes, I'm an idiot, right?" the Athlete asks, twisted in his seat to look at Bender.

"You're an idiot anyway," Bender points out as he moves towards the Athlete. "But if you say you get along with your partners, well, then you're a liar too."

"You know something, man," the Athlete stands up. "If we weren't in school right now, I'd waste you."

Despite myself, I've turned my attention away from my book and watching as Bender points his middle finger towards the floor. "Can you hear this?" he asks. "Want me to turn it up?" He raises the middle finger, now flipping the Athlete off. I smirk, making note of that.

The Brain, who seems to lack even some assemblance of common sense, goes over and puts a hand on each of the guy's shoulders, "Hey fellas, I mean, I don't like my parents either. I don't get along with them. Their idea of parental compassion is just, you know, wacko."

I roll my eyes and go back to my book, now unable to tune them out completely as Bender says, "Dork…"

"Yeah?"

"You are a parent's wet dream, okay?"

"Well, that's a problem!"

"Look," Bender adds, "I can see you getting all bunged up for them making you wear these kinda clothes. But face it, you're a Neo-Maxi-Zoom-Dweebie!" I raise my head, narrowing my eyes at nothing in particular, trying to figure out what the hell he just said as he continues. "What would you be doing if you weren't out making yourself a better citizen?"

"Why do you have to insult everybody?" the Athlete asks.

"Ain't an insult if it's true," I speak up, my eyes back on my book. "Figured a good boy like you would know the difference."

"Yeah, well, he's got a name!"

"Yeah?" Bender asks.

I look at the Athlete, "I'll be twenty you don't even know his name yourself."

"I know his name," the Athlete protests, then turns to the Brain and tries to whisper low enough that we won't hear, "What's your name?" But I hear it and roll my eyes, going back to my book. And Bender hears it and smirks, shaking his head.

"Brian…" the Brain says.

"My condolences," Bender says to the Brain as he turns and walks over to my desk, taking up residence in one of the chairs that I'm not using as a foot rest.

"What's your name?" the Princess asks me.

"What's yours?" I shoot back without looking up.

"Claire…"

"Ka-Laire?" Benders stands up and goes to stand in front of her table.

"Claire. It's a family name."

"It's a fat girl's name.

"I'm not fat!" the Princess protests.

"Well not at present, but I can see you're really pushing maximum density. You see, I'm not sure if you know this, but there are two kids of fat people. There's fat people that were born to be fat, and then there's fat people that were once thin but they became fat. So when you look at them you can sorta see that thin person inside. You see, you're going to get married, you're gonna squeeze out a few puppies, and then…"

I glance up to see Bender mime becoming fat, using sound effects to his advantage. Claire flips him off."

"Such an obscene finger gestures from such a pristine girl."

"I'm not that pristine," Claire argues resentfully.

"Beg to differ," I mumble under my breath as I turn back to my book, surrounding myself in silence.

My attention's claimed again a few moments later, however, by the sight of Bender pinned to the ground by the Athlete.

"I don't wanna get into this with you, man," Bender says.

"Why not?" the Athlete asks as he stands up.

"Cause I'd kill you," Bender says simply as he gets to his feet, walking backwards past my table, as if unaffected. "It's real simple. I'd kill you and your fucking parents would sue me and it would be a big mess and I don't care enough about you to bother."

_But it'd be such fun_, I think to myself, sighing.

"Chicken shit," the Athlete says, turning and walking away. Bender pulls a switchblade out of his pocket, opens it, and stabs it into the chair right beside me, not even glancing at me.

"Lets end this right now," the Athlete says. "You don't talk to her, you don't look at her, you don't even think about her. You understand me?"

Fire lights inside me at his words and I have to struggle to control myself as I snap out, "I'm pretty sure you can't force him to do as you say."

The door opens, and Carl the janitor comes in, stopping the argument before it can happen. I glance at Bender, catch him wink at me, and then glance down at my book, calming myself.

"Hey Freddie," Carl says to me when I look at him, and I roll my eyes. He's one of the few who know how much I despise that nickname, but it doesn't stop him from using it. I swear he does it just _because _it annoys me. "Causing trouble again?"

"Always."

"Get caught?" there's a question under that question. It's obvious I got caught at something, I'm in detention.

"Never," I smirk, because I didn't get caught doing what he's hinting at. I never get caught pulling secret stunts.

"Uh, Carl?" Bender speaks up, and Carl turns an unhappy gaze on the Criminal.

"What?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure…"

"How does one become a janitor?"

"You wanna be a janitor?" Carl looks at him skeptically.

"No, I just wanna know how one becomes a janitor. Because Andrew here," Bender points to the Athlete, "is very interested in persuing a career in the custodial arts."

"Oh really?" Carl's not convinced. He's no fool. "You guys think I'm just some untouchable peasant? Peon? Huh? Maybe so, but following a broom around after shitheads like you for the past eight years I've learned a couple of things. I look through your letters, I look through your lockers. I listen to your conversations. You don't know that, but I do. I am the eyes and ears of this institution, my friends. By the way, that clock's twenty minutes fast." He leaves. The others groan. Bender smiles.

I smirk. Because Carl's Vernon's eyes and ears, but he's nothing compared to me. Vernon thinks he's so clever, but he has no idea what he's dealing with.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Beethoven's 5****th**

Somewhere in the boredom, I guess when Bender runs out of ways to harass the others, he starts whistling. It doesn't take long for the others to join him. And I find myself surprised when I join in, without even looking up from my book.

The door opens and everyone stops whistling. Everyone except Bender and, of course, me. But we both change our tunes to Beethoven's 5th. A few beats later we both stop, and I look up from my book as he looks over my shoulder. He winks, I smirk.

"Alright, girls, that's thirty minutes for lunch," Vernon says.

"Here?" the Athlete asks.

"Here."

"Well, I think the cafeteria would be a much more suitable place for us to eat lunch in, sir."

I roll my eyes as Vernon says, "Well, I don't care what you think, Andrew!"

"Um, Dick? Excuse me, Rich, will milk be made available to us?"

"We're extremely thirsty, sir," Andrew the Ahtlete adds.

"I have a very low tolerance for dehydration," Claire the Princess adds.

"I've seen her dehydrated sir, it's pretty gross."

Bender rises from his seat just in front of me, "Relax, I'll get it."

"Ah, ah, ah," Vernon cuts in. "Grab some wood there, bub."

Bender grins and sits as I stand. I walk right up to Vernon, locking eyes with him and holding him in his place. I stop only a foot away from him, narrowing my eyes slightly as I concentrate. "Bender and I will get the drinks," I say, my tone leaving absolutely no argument. And though he's an adult, the Principal, and could override me, I will him not to.

I imagine the words coming out of his mouth, locking that image in my head. Holding it, projecting it, making him see it. Making him think it's real until he finally says, "Bender, Grimm, go get drinks."

I smirk in triumph as Bender stands up. I get confused looks from Claire and Andrew as I collect their drink money. As Bender and I walk past Vernon to get to the door, I smirk at the fairly confused look in his eyes as he tries to figure out why he let me and Bender go.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Mysteries**

"Okay, what did you just do?" Bender asks only a few steps down the hallway, the moment we round a corner away from the library and Vernon's office.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I say in a mock-innocent tone. I cast a sideways glance at him, see him looking at me, and for some reason beyond me I can't help but smile as I return my eyes forward.

Bender shakes his head, "I just don't get you at all."

"Well that's the point," I smirk. "You're not supposed to get me, it's part of the mystery."

He nods, "Oh, you're definitely a mystery. How come I've never seen you before? Outside of the principal's office, I mean."

I shrug, "I'm good at staying unseen."

"Obviously not if you keep getting caught and sent to the principal's office."

"Haven't you noticed yet?" I cast another sideways glance at him. "I'm out to purposely screw with Richard Vernon. I get sent to the principal's office just as much as you do simply because I know exactly what buttons to hit while I'm there. If the man had his way, he'd never see me, just like no students see me. And it's for that reason that I keep making intentional visits right to his doorstep."

"Why though?"

I shrug again, glancing down. Now we're boarding on mounting a subject that I'd much rather avoid with even my closest confidant. Not that I have one.

"Why do you always end up in the principal's office?" I ask instead.

Now he shrugs, "Ditching class, smoking in school, talking back. The usual stuff."

"The usual stuff doesn't land you in detention normally," I point out. "So what did?"

"This time?" he grins. "I pulled the fire alarm."

"That's it?" I look at him skeptically.

"What were you expecting?"

I narrow my eyes at him, searching for the truth, then pulling it right out of him.

He shrugs and admits, "I set a fire in the chemistry lab."

I nod, "Now that's much better. Pretty dangerous place to set a fire though. Were you trying to burn down the school?"

"I can hope," he smiles again, and I roll my eyes. After a few beats he asks me, "So what landed you here on this lovely Saturday?"

"Vernon's obsessive need to corner me," I shrug. "I've gotten him to the point where I could look at him, and he'll give me detention."

"He's got a real grudge against you. And coming from me, that's big."

"It's more me that has the grudge against him. He's only pissed at me because I know how to outsmart him and push his buttons."

Bender shakes his head as I open the door to the teacher's lounge, "I mean, I thought I was good, but he's never punched me."

"He's a principal, he can't punch his students," I remind him.

"He punched you," he reminds me as he starts inserting bills in the drink machine and punching buttons.

"I'm a lot more than just his student," I say quietly, more to myself than to Bender, as I collect the drinks from the bottom of the machine. But from the confused look he gives me, I know he's heard me, and I quickly change the subject. "I bet the Basket Case is in here because she got caught stealing."

"Who, Allison?" Bender asks, and I nod.

"I suck at names," I shrug. "But I do know that along with being a compulsive liar, she's a major klepto. She also had long hair all her life until three years ago, when a boy put such an insane amount of gum in her hair, there was no way in hell she would ever get it out, so she just cut it all off. Had something similar to a pixie cut for a while, until this year when she decided to grow it out at least a little bit again."

"Okay, how do you know all that?"

"There's a reason you've never seen me away from the principal's office, and it's not because I'm just always there."

"Do you know that much about everyone in the library?"

"I know that much, and more, about almost everyone in the school," I find myself admitting.

"What do you know about me?" I notice a trace of caution in his voice.

I smirk at him tauntingly, putting a little more mystery in my gaze than necessary, if only to make him even more nervous than he already is about his secrets. And it works. He tries to hide it, but I see all too clearly that I've put him on edge with my unknown knowledge.

"One more question," Bender says when we're almost back at the library.

"Shoot," at this point, I find myself surprisingly willing to answer questions. Is it just him and his rebel streak? Or would I answer these questions now even if Claire or Andrew asked them?

"What's in that book you read that's so fascinating?"

I find myself almost laughing at that question as we get to the door, and I up my hand on the handle. "Nothing you'd ever learn in a school," I answer just before pushing the door open, going into the library, and ending the conversation with a confused and cautious Bender.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Lunch Break**

"What's in there?" Bender asks Claire as she starts taking her lunch out of a small shopping bag. I've abandoned my book, left it sitting beside me on the table, as I dig through my backpack's man pockets, trying to remember which one I put my lunch in.

"Guess. Where's your lunch?" Claire retorts.

"You're wearing it."

"You're nauseating."

I look up, narrowing my eyes at nothing in particular, now trying to remember if I even grabbed a lunch today. A can of Coke flies past my head, and Allison catches it without even looking up. I glance over just in time to see Bender tossing another can my way, winking at me before he turns back to watching Claire unload her lunch.

I bring myself up on my knees, peering over both of their shoulders. Frowning, I ask, "What _is _that?"

"Sushi," Claire looks over her shoulder at me and Bender.

"Sushi?" Bender and I both ask in disgust.

"Rice, uh, raw fish and seaweed," Claire explains.

I roll my eyes. "I know what sushi _is_, I just can't figure out how you can eat it."

"You won't accept a guy's tongue in your mouth and you're gonna eat _that_?" Bender asks.

"Can I eat?" Claire sighs.

"I don't know…" Bender shakes his head.

"Go ahead and try," I shrug, sitting back down and turning to my bag. Somewhere in the back of my mind I wonder when I became so social, but right now I'm too damn hungry to care about much except for finding some source of food in this stupid bag.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Allison making taking the meat out of her sandwich and tossing it up and slightly over her shoulder, making it stick on the sculpture leering above us. Then I watch in disgusted fascination as she opens some pixie stix and pours the sugar on the sandwich. Then she adds Cap'n Crunch cereal on top of that before putting the second piece of bread back on top and crunching the sandwich together, taking a loud bite.

I just shake my head in disbelief and turn back to my bag, not looking back up until Bender passes my table, going to stand under the sculpture.

"Here's my impression of life at big Bri's house…" he announces.

He starts in a loud, friendly voice, "Son!"

Then in a kiddie voice, "_Yeah, Dad?"_

"How's your day, pal?"

_"Great, Dad, how's yours?"_

"Super. Say son, how'd you like to go fishing this weekend?"

_"Great, Dad! But I've got homework to do." _

"That's alright son, you can do it on the boat!"

_"Gee!" _

"Dear, isn't our son swell?"

Now he tones in a more high-pitched voice, "**Yes, Dear. Isn't life swell**?"

I roll my eyes as Bender mimes mother kissing father, father kissing mother, then father punching mother in the face. And that's when the truth is revealed, at least to me – because I doubt the others _really_ get it – and my smile fades.

"Alright, so what about your family?" Andrew asks and I suppress a groan. Wishing I could go over there and punch him myself. Because while Bender's walking a fine line on the joke, putting a personal touch on it that he probably shouldn't have, Andrew's purposely crossing the line.

"Oh, mine?"

Bender drops his voice into the deeper tone again as he mimics his father: "**Stupid, worthless, no good, God damned, freeloading, son of a bitch, retarded, big mouth, know it all, asshole, jerk!"**

Slightly higher pitched again as he goes for his mother: "_You forgot ugly, lazy, and disrespectful_**." **

Bender slams his hand back to slap his invisible mother.

Deep tone: "**Shut up, bitch! Go fix me a turkey pot pie!"**

In his own voice: "What about you, Dad?"

**"Fuck you!" **

"No, Dad, what about you?"

"**Fuck you**!"

He yells, "No, Dad, what about you?"

Now his "father" yells, "**Fuck you!" **

He mimes his father hitting him.

"Is that for real?" Brian asks.

"You wanna come over sometime?" Bender challenges him.

"That's bullshit," the Athlete says, and all eyes turn to him. It takes everything in me to control myself. "It's all part of your image. I don't believe a word of it."

"You don't believe me?" Bender challenges him.

"No."

"And what the hell would you know?" I snap at him before Bender can say anything else. "Your biggest problem is Daddy Dearest idolizing about you getting what he was too much of a loser to get himself."

"Like you would know a damn thing about my family," Andrew snaps at me.

The thing is though that I _do _know. I know a lot more than he would ever imagine. A lot more than I should. But there's no changing that, and there's no way in hell I'm telling him that.

So instead I say, "You're right. I don't know a damn thing about your family. Just like you don't know a damn thing about mine, or Benders. So don't sit there and mock what you don't know, and I won't sit here and mock what I don't know."

That's enough to silence him, to bring realization to his eyes. To make him realize, at least for that small amount of time, that it's not so fun being the victim after all.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: Locker**

"Oh shit!" we hear Vernon yell. I'm the first one up, catching my book and hugging it to my chest with one arm as I bolt barefoot to the door. I press my ear to the wood to listen as Vernon rants to himself, "Coffee…looks like they scrape it off the bottom of the Mississippi river. Everything's polluted, everything's polluted…the coffee."

I roll my eyes at his complaints as Vernon's footsteps disappear down the hall.

I look over my shoulder at the others, grinning mischievously. "He's gone," I practically sing.

"Then what the hell are we doing here? My locker." Bender gets up and comes over to the door, opening it. I hurry back to my table, shoving my book in my backpack, then following the others out into the hallway, moving up to walk beside Bender.

"How do you know where Vernon went?" Claire asks me.

"I don't," I smirk.

"Well then, how do you know when he'll be back?"

"I don't," I say simply.

"Being bad feels pretty good, huh?" Bender smirks over his shoulder at her.

"What's the point in going to Bender's locker?" Brian asks.

"Beats me," Andrew says.

"This is so stupid…" Brian adds. "Why do you think, why are we risking getting caught?"

"Because a life without risk is a dull and pointless one," I glance back over my shoulder. "Live your whole life following the rules and where do you get? A place in heaven? Are you a Christian? Are your parents?" I don't give him time to answer either question as I go on, "But if you live your life with risk, you live your life knowing you'll go down with a bang. And you'll have a hell of a lot more fun along the way."

"That makes no sense," Claire says.

"No, it made sense," Bender says as we get to his locker. As he opens it, a blade runs down the length of it until it hits the bottom.

"How did you get that past Carl?" Andrew asks.

"He didn't," I smirk, earning confused looks from everyone. Carl's not an idiot. He's not as good at me, but he's not stupid either. It's one of the few things he hasn't reported to Vernon due to my influence.

"Slob," Andrew comments.

"My maid's on vacation," Bender says as he pulls out a baggie of marijuana.

"Drugs…" Brian says nervously.

"Screw that, Bender, put it back!" Andrew says.

Bender ignores him, closing his locker and turning to walk away.

"Drugs…the boy had marijuana…" Brian goes on as I follow Bender.

"That was marijuana!"

"Shut up," Andrew snaps as he and Claire follow us. I glance over my shoulder to see Brian finally following us and Allison swiping the lock from Bender's locker before she follows us.

"Shit," I stop dead in my tracks, yanking Bender and Claire back a few steps and around a corner, Allison, Brian and Andrew quickly following.

"What the hell?" Bender asks, but I hold up one finger, wait a beat, then point it back the way we just were as footsteps sound.

"We're gonna get caught!" Brian says.

"Like hell," I shake my head.

"What do you mean?" Andrew hisses, our voices dropping the close Vernon gets.

"Go straight back to the library. Leave this asshole to me. I start shoving them the other way until they all start running. Once they round a corner and are out of sight, I step back into the hallway, right in Vernon's line of sight.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: Light 'Em Up**

I smile at Vernon. A twisted and evil smile, as my eyes darken. He wants to yell at me, to tell me to go back to the library, to give me countless more detentions. But I lock my eyes with him and will him silent. He says nothing, just stands there glaring at me.

And he continues to stand there well after I've turned and started walking again, making my way to the media room. I pull my iPod out of the pocket of my skirt, scroll through the songs, and hook it to the school's speakers as I hit play.

I'm out of the media room again, running down the halls, as Vernon runs through the halls looking for me, and I sing along to the song at the top of my lungs, my voice echoing through the halls. Surrounding him. Taunting him.

"_Be careful making wishes in the dark, dark_

_Can't be sure when they've hit their mark_

_And besides in the mean, mean time_

_I'm just dreaming of tearing you apart"_

I weave my way through the halls, finding my way easily to the electrical closet. I kneel down in front of the door, picking the lock in only moments. I hear Vernon getting close, too close, and I'm able to slip inside the electrical closet only a breath before Vernon rounds the corner onto this hallway. I continue to sing as I flip all the switches, killing the power in the entire school.

_I'm in the details with the devil_

_You know the world can't ever get me on my level _

_I just got to get you out the cage_

_I'm a young lover's rage_

_Gonna need a spark to ignite_

Vernon's standing just outside the door, I can feel it, and he's not moving. He curses loudly as darkness surrounds him. Where we are in the school, there are no windows to outside. This part of the school, at least, was pitch black. I can't stop myself from grinning as I slide the door open and silently slip right past Vernon.

"Damn you, Grimm!" he yells in frustration, his hand reaching out for a wall only a breath away from me.

But he doesn't catch me, and I walk quickly down the hallway.

_My songs know what you did in the dark_

_So light 'em up-up-up_

_Light 'em up-up-up_

_Light 'em up-up-up_

_I'm on fire_

On the other end of the hallway, I take a long match out of my boot, flick it against my heel, and hold it up as the flame ignites. I can feel Vernon's gaze on me, just like I can feel the fear radiating off him.

_So light 'em up-up-up_

_Light 'em up-up-up_

_Light 'em up-up-up_

_I'm on fire_

_Whoa (in the dark, dark)_

_Whoa (in the dark, dark)_

I let go of the match, letting it fall to the floor, where it rolls and smothers out its own flame.

_The writers keep writing what they write_

_Somewhere another pretty vein just dies_

_I've got the scars from tomorrow and I wish you could see_

_That you're the antidote to everything except for me_

_A constellation of tears on your lashes_

_Burn everything you love then burn the ashes_

_In the end everything collides_

_My childhood spat back out the monster that you see_

I grab Vernon's shoulder and spin him around to face me, grabbing his jacket and throwing him against the wall.

"I will catch you, Vernon," I whisper in his ear, hearing and feeling his pulse hammering. "I will expose you. I will strip you everything you've ever known."

I open the electrical closet door for him just before I turn and disappear back into the shadows. As the lights snap back on in the school, I yank my CD out of the player and shove it back into the small bag around my waist, turning to go back to the library.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: More Than a Witch**

The moment the library door opens and the others see that it's me, I'm pounded with questions.

"What happened?" Andrew asks.

"Did you cut the lights?" Brian asks.

"Did Vernon catch you?" Bender has a little bit of a too-eager grin on his face when he asks that one.

"You know, the more you ask, the less I'll answer," I shut everyone up as I sit down at my table in the back. Everyone's twisted in their seats to look at me, their eyes probing. If I didn't know any better, I would think that more than one of them was trying to pull my trick. And maybe, in their stupid inability to actually do so, they are without even realizing it.

I smirk, thinking of the look on Vernon's face.

"So?" Bender finally asks when I don't answer _any_ of their questions.

"So what?" I ask in return, pretending to be confused. He just smirks, shaking his head at me.

"So what happened?" Claire demands.

I simply shrug, "I distracted him. But he's going to walk through that door any second, so put the bag in your boot or something." The last comment's directed at Bender, and I say it quickly because I can feel Vernon close. The door bangs open just as Bender grabs the baggie off the table in front of him and shove it under the table.

"Get out here," Vernon walks quickly over to me, his face red with fury. He makes a grab for my arm, but the moment his fingers touch me, I snatch my arm back and slam my other fist into his gut hard enough to make him double over.

"I told you not to touch me!" I snap at him.

"Hallway. Now," he manages to all but gasp.

I stand up without protest and walk around him, whispering in his ear as I pass, "Bring it."

But despite my punch, Vernon's able to stagger out of the library right behind me.

"So what are you going to do this time?" I cock my head to the side as I spin to face him, the door firmly shut behind him.

"I tolerate you in school, but I'm tired of playing your games," he damn near growls at me.

I can't stop myself from grinning, "Oh please, I'm just getting started over here."

"I know your tricks, witch," Vernon gets in my face. He's so much bigger than me, he's trying to get me to back down. "I could turn you in."

I roll my eyes, shaking my head slightly, "Well considering you're still calling me a witch clearly means you don't know shit about what I can do."

"I know plenty, Grimm. I know _everything_."

I smirk, "If you think you're so smart, go ahead and turn me in. You don't even know who to go to. The cops? They'll never believe you. They're weak minded anyway, I can easily sway their judgment."

"Then I will end you myself," he growls.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" I narrow my eyes at him challengingly. "Do you really think you'll be able to tie me up and burn me? You may be bigger than me, but I'm faster and never scared. You can't kill me, Vernon. I am so much more than a simple witch."

At that moment I realize that Bender's listening on the other side of the door, and I curse myself for letting this conversation go on for as long as it has. I curse myself for not paying attention, therefore not realizing sooner that we were being listened in on. And I curse myself for the fact that I don't know how long Bender's been listening.

But I do know that he seems to be the only one listening, so, with any luck, he'll keep his mouth shut and not tell the others.

"The day you signed me away was the day you doomed yourself," I say to Vernon. "I have no obligation to protect you. You threw that away when you threw me away. So now I'm going to end you."

I shove him back into his own office, and as I turn back to the library, his office door slams closed and sticks there. Vernon looks at me through the window as he tries to yank the door open, his rage building. And as I open the library door, I flip him off, then open my hand and turn it to flash him the tattoo on my right palm. The symbol of what I am.

His eyes widen – In fury, in fear – as he realizes that, no matter what he does, this battle's already lost.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13: Considering…Considering…**

Bender's standing by the check-out desk when I walk back into the library. I look at him as I close the library door behind me, locking eyes with him and telling him not to dare tell anyone what he heard. Somehow, though, I notice that it's not working. My ability's having absolutely no effect on him.

I narrow my eyes at him, trying to figure out why. But as much as I study, as much as I know, and as much as I've trained, I've never met anyone who could resist my will so effortlessly. It infuriates me.

As I continue towards my table in the back, I see the baggie sitting on Bender's chair. I swipe it, turn to walk backwards, as I hold it up, "So we gonna do something with this or are we just going to sit here and look pretty all day?"

"No way, you're not gonna blaze up in here," Andrew protests, shaking his head.

"Of course _I'm_ not," I shoot over my shoulder at him, tossing the bag to Bender as he follows me to the back of the library. I perch myself on the railing as Andrew swears, Claire and Brian making their way over.

Of course, once the smoke starts billowing, it takes all of three point seven seconds for the five of them to start acting like complete idiots. And as against marijuana in general as I am, I can't help but be entertained, finding myself choking back laughter with about as much trouble as I usually have playing nice.

Clair nearly chokes on smoke when Bender lights her up, and Brian starts talking in a jacked up voice, "Chicks cannot hold der smoke! That's what it is!"

I roll my eyes, biting my lip to keep from laughing, as Claire goes on, "Do you know how popular I am? I'm so popular, everybody loves me so much, at this school…"

"Poor baby," I mock, rolling my eyes. I look over my shoulder to see Andrew emerging from a smoky side room, my eyes widening when I realize how completely wasted he's got to be from that.

"Don't look at me like that," he says to me, grinning, before he randomly starts dancing, moving all over the library.

"Oh, no, no," I sigh, shaking my head. "If you're going to do that, we _at least_ need music." I swing my legs over the rail that I'm sitting on, turning around on it, and jumping down. I rush over to the speakers and flip on the radio. Soon we're all dancing and laughing at nothing more than our own bad dancing.

"Hey, what's your middle name?" Andrew asks Brian once things calm down.

"Ralph," I answer before Brian can. "His middle name of Ralph." I'm sitting on the rail again, more or less. My legs hanging over them, my feet hooked in one of the bars, as I hang upside down. I glance over at Brian and Andrew, seeing their confused looks.

"Your birthday's March 12th, you're five-nine and a half. You weigh a hundred and thirty pounds and your social security number is 0-4-9-3-8-0-9-1-3," I smirk.

"Whoa…are you psychic?" Andrew asks.

"Nope."

"Well then how do you know all that?" Brian asks.

"Well, the social security number I saw over her shoulder when the went through your wallet," I nod in Allison's general direction. "And the middle name. The rest I figured out just by looking at you."

"You stole my wallet?" Brian turns to Allison, who looks annoyed that I've ratted her out.

"So can you guess my weight?" Andrew asks me.

"I could tell you your weight by the pound," I say, closing my eyes. I open them again when I hear Claire ask Bender, "Are all these your girlfriends?"

I shake my head and roll my eyes when Bender answers, "Some of them."

"What about the others?" I ask.

"Well, some I consider my girlfriends. And some I just," he shrugs, "Consider."

"Consider what?" Claire asks.

"Consider whether or not he's in the mood to hook up with them that particular day," I sit up on the railing, then slide off. "You see, Bender's the kind of guy who wouldn't dream of just sticking with one girl for a week, much less for life."

"How come girls got so much shit in their purses?" Bender switches the subject as soon as I'm done, his voice as defensive as his eyes.

"How come you got so many girlfriends?" Claire responds.

"I asked you first," Bender shakes his head, and I roll my eyes.

Claire shrugs, "I dunno. I guess I never throw anything away.

"Neither do I," Bender smirks.

"Oh…"

I still don't talk much, but I find myself wandering randomly around the library, looking for a book to take as a souvenir, listening to everyone else's conversations. Watching Allison dump out her purse, then go on the defense when Brian and Andrew start asking too many questions. Rolling my eyes when Claire, Allison, Bender and Andrew end up in an argument over whether or not Claire's a tease. Smirking when Allison admits that she lied about screwing her therapist.

On the top level, I stop and lean over the railing as Andrew admits what he did to get into detention.

"You realize that's not just the oldest trick in the book, it's the dumbest, right?" I comment for the first time in a while, earning several surprised looks.

Andrew just shrugs, "Did it for my old man."

"Then you and your old man are both screwed in the head," I turn away from the railing and continue wandering, mumbling just loud enough for everyone to hear, "Everybody's got parent issues."

After a moment, I stop and look at the clock. Easily seeing through the twenty minutes fast, I know that detention will be over soon. It's time for me to wrap up my business.

I walk back down the steps to the lower level of the library, over to my table. For the first time since we original entered this building almost nine hours ago, I sit down in the chair, bringing the piece of paper and pencil towards me.

"You're going to write your paper?" Claire asks.

I pause, pencil to paper. Then I pull my hand away, rest my elbow on the table and my head in my hand, turning so that I can look back at them, as they're looking at me.

"No," I say after several moments. "I'm going to write _our_ paper. That okay?" And for the first time today I ask a question with absolutely no sarcasm in it.

Bender smirks. Allison smiles. Brian looks confused. Andrew nods. Claire's the one that answers though, smiling as she says, "Yeah. I think that'd be perfect."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14: The End of Detention**

"Guys," I draw all of their attention. They all look at me, then follow my gaze up to the clock.

"Detention's over," Bender says.

"My dad's probably waiting for me already," Claire says, slowly standing up.

"Yeah, mom's probably waiting too," Brian sighs as he and the others stand up. Grabbing their stuff, donning their jackets, they all start filing out of the library without so much as a goodbye.

I don't move.

"You coming?" Bender asks, the last one out, the only one to seem to notice that I'm still sitting on the table, looking up at the clock. I slide my gaze over to the statue.

"I'll be out in a few minutes," I say, not really knowing why I'm saying it. Or rather, knowing but refusing to acknowledge. I sit there a few more minutes until I know that he's gone. Until I know that they're all gone with no sign of coming back in and finding me.

Then I stand up, drag my chair over to the statue, stand up on the chair, and reach up towards the top. Using my nails to pry out the camera that I placed in the hole of the statue. Nobody even noticed there was a hole today that wasn't there yesterday morning. Smiling in triumph, I press down on the record button to stop it, then turn the camera off, tucking it into my bag. Kicking the chair back into place, glancing at the essay that I wrote on behalf of all of us, I shoulder my bag and leave the library, leave the school building.

Surprised to find Bender waiting just across the street, leaning against the very tree I was standing against as I watched him walk right past me nine hours ago. Now I wonder if he really did see me after all.

After hesitating by the door for a minute, I take a breath, take a leap, and walk away from the building, towards him.

"So, if Claire's a fat girl's name, what's…?"

"Freddie?" he guesses before I can finish.

"Alfredah," I correct him.

He smiles, "Alfredah's a magic girl's name."

"Magic girl?" It's so childish sounding I could almost laugh. But then I decide, "Well, it's better than witch."

"So detention's over. What now?" Bender asks.

I cock my head to the side, narrowing my eyes just slightly at him, wondering how many times Bender's bothered to ask that question to a girl.

Unable to come up with an answer myself, I simply shrug as I start backing away. Away from Bender, away from the school. Away from the stupidity of believing that anything about today will seep into tomorrow, or be strong enough to change the events on Monday.

"Now we wait," I say simply, about to turn to walk away. But I find myself stopping, hesitating.

I'm right on the edge and I'm ready to fall.

I take one long stride forward, rising up on my toes to press my lips to his. "I'll see you on Monday," I whisper in his ear before I sink back down and turn to walk away, this time without looking back.

As I walk, I smirk. Because Saturday detention may be over, but I know that this is just the beginning.


	15. The Essay

**The Essay**

Dear Mr. Vernon,

We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a beautiful Saturday in detention for whatever it was that we did wrong. What we did was wrong. And yet we think you're crazy to make us write essays telling you who we think we are. What do you care? You see us as you want to see us, in the simplest and most convenient definitions. You see us as a geek, a jock, a basket case, a popular, a criminal and a witch. Am I wrong?

That's the way we saw each other at seven o'clock this morning, when we first walked through the doors of this school, this library. We were brainwashed. You had brainwashed us. You, and everyone else around us.

But in your effort to break us, you inadvertently changed us. While you tried to keep us in the dark, the fact is that we couldn't be more enlightened now. Because now we all see each other, ourselves, for what we truly are.

A brain.

An athlete.

A thief.

A princess.

A rebel.

And just a little bit Forgotten.

We can only hope, I can only hope, that someday, you'll see what we see. Not just in us, but in yourself. Someday I hope you wake up and realize that this isn't the life you want. That you've strayed from your childhood dream without realizing, and you've become the very person that you used to hate.

Sincerely yours,

- The Breakfast Club

* * *

**Author's Note: Saturday detention's over, but Grimm's story has just begun. To see what happens Monday morning and beyond, please read the squeal, "After Breakfast"**


End file.
